Snocross standings. John Italia () writes: The JV-90 is a truly dangerous master controller in a complex MIDI setup. The units edit sliders make programming sounds intuitive and fun. Many MIDI parameters can be assigned to the various sliders.

Roland Clan Forums. Most of the patches sound the same, there is some difference in Effects that are noticeable she of the patches in the Plugin seem to be richer in sound but this is down to the effects as when you listen to them RAW they are identical so I' not sure what Roland did with the plugin version or what's different to this. Patch Base 2.6 is available today, bringing editors for 4 Roland synths: JV-2080, JV-1080, XP-80, and XP-60.These synths were incredibly popular in the 90's, and have a lot of sounds that you'll recognize, just scrolling through the presets.

As a controller, the units metal chasis and case and semi-weighted keys really add a study feeling - much more so than the plastic case and wimpy keys of the XP-50. The stock samples are not the greatest variety I have heard but they are of exceptional quality and the waveform memory can be expanded by the addition of one of Roland's 8MB cards which are all excellent. The JV-90 has a good low end response for really deep pads.

I highly recommend the JV-90 to anyone seeking an excellent controller and a fun synth to program - if it is your only synth you may opt for the XP-80 with its increased waveform memory and effects section. One note is that the unit occassionally locks up (maybe twice a year) from what many users feel is a static electricity problem (although! The 1080 reportedly does the same thing). This is not usually a problem and just requires turning the power off for a second or two. Comments About the Sounds: The stock acoustic piano and electric pianos are really nice for a synth. With regard to the organs, the stock B-3 type organs are really quite bad but the pipe organ samples are excellent.

The solo orchestral sounds are weak, but the orchestral expansion board is very good. The acoustic guitars are exceptional. Great representation of analog sounds and a lot of room for digital synth sound programming. (Thanks to John Italia for this info.).